<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hi Kevin and Ian,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I agree, Kevin, that Andy Wallace’s mixes are not that dynamic to begin with, but for heavy metal it’s pretty good.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I also agree with you, Ian, that, being human, Avenged take the negative reviews 100x more to heart than the compliments! </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I think the band are talking increasing the level +1.5 to +2dB, so nothing horrendous. They are re-releasing the “Stage” album with an album of bonus tracks.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">BTW, Ian, I just saw the Resolution magazine article on your Dynameter and the various streaming services. Very nice!</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Best,</div><div class="">Bob L.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Apr 23, 2017, at 11:48 AM, Kevin Gross <<a href="mailto:kevin.p.gross@gmail.com" class="">kevin.p.gross@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="auto" class="">Spotify uses the ReplayGain algorithm for loudness measurement. It might help to finish the work to update ReplayGain to use BS.1770.<div dir="auto" class=""><br class=""></div><div dir="auto" class="">I think Spotify actually uses a lower target level than YouTube. Lower target should help improve normalization. If limiting is in play, that complicates things. I don't think we advocate limiting as part of normalization. <br class=""><br class=""><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="auto" class="">Sent from my mobile thingy</div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br class=""><div class="gmail_quote">On Apr 22, 2017 5:55 PM, "Ian Shepherd" <<a href="mailto:ian@mastering-media.co.uk" class="">ian@mastering-media.co.uk</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution" class=""><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word" class=""><div class=""><br class="">
</div><div class="">Hi Bob,</div><div class=""><br class="m_1699102179848547499webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class="">I’m really sorry to hear this, I can imagine how discouraging it must be. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">For what it’s worth, I can’t agree with the band’s comment that the streaming services aren’t levelling it, though. I did some quick tests and YouTube and iTunes both play the album at a similar level to both the last Trivium album (another dynamic release) <b class="">and</b> Death Magnetic. There <b class="">are</b> audible differences in the sound, mainly in EQ response and density, but in terms of perceived and measured level there was very little in it, and on some songs A7X comes out on top. I haven’t checked but I imagine that the same is true of TIDAL.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The one exception was Spotify, in which case A7X does sound noticeably quieter, which makes sense since they use the highest normalisation level, but is a little surprising given that they also use a limiter and normalise up - or at least, they used to. I’m guessing this is the platform that has skewed their perception the most.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Personally I’ve seen two very negative reviews of the sound of the album, but most of the responses have been very favourable. I’m struck by the phrase “very poor production” since I saw exactly that wording on a forum post somewhere and it reminds me of the research which shows that bad experiences are seven times more impactful on people than good ones. If that holds in this case we would expect the band to read 6 good reviews and one bad one, and come away with an overall negative impression - or get 6 positive fan comments and one bad one and focus mainly on the critical one. The deck is stacked against us !</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">None of this really helps though, especially since Spotify is still such a big player. I guess if there’s any good news it’s that the band only want “at least a little more” level on the next release - there would be room to lift this album several dBs and make them feel more secure with only minimal compromises to the sound.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Still frustrating though, we always want people to completely love the results of our work ! Makes me want to try reaching out to Spotify again and see if they’ll reconsider their normalisation level and algorithm.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Ian </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div>
<br class=""><div class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On 21 Apr 2017, at 21:38, Robert Ludwig <<a href="mailto:gatewaybob@mac.com" target="_blank" class="">gatewaybob@mac.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="m_1699102179848547499Apple-interchange-newline"><div class="">FYI everyone:<br class=""><br class="">Matt from Avenged Sevenfold called and said that they need to put at least a little more level on their future material, he said that so many fans complained about the “very poor production” on the album and how low-level it is and I guess they really complained a lot! He said the streaming services are not leveling it out and their stuff makes fans turn up the volume too much when their new songs come one. A valid point at this time in history I guess.<br class=""><br class="">On another note, a client was in who listens to Google Play and he complained that the levels were all over the place and they should do something about it!<br class=""><br class="">All else is well here.<br class=""><br class="">Best,<br class="">Bob L.<br class="">______________________________<wbr class="">_________________<br class="">MLA mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:MLA@grimmaudio.nl" target="_blank" class="">MLA@grimmaudio.nl</a><br class=""><a href="http://grimmaudio.nl/mailman/listinfo/mla_grimmaudio.nl" target="_blank" class="">http://grimmaudio.nl/mailman/<wbr class="">listinfo/mla_grimmaudio.nl</a><br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div><br class="">______________________________<wbr class="">_________________<br class="">
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